A Judicial Nominee, Derailed

Published: September 6, 2003

By nominating a conservative Hispanic, Miguel Estrada, to a federal appeals court, the Republicans strategically cornered Democrats into choosing between supporting ethnic diversity and sacrificing another judicial seat to a staunch conservative.

It seems clear that survival for the Democrats will have to come from outside the game of party politics. They must hope that Hispanic-Americans can see through the Republicans' shallow use of racial politics to overshadow their utter lack of commitment to real issues, like job creation, health care and immigration issues.